Giant Devil's Flower Mantis

The giant devil's flower mantis is one of the largest flower-mimicking mantises. Idolomantis diabolica comes from the savanna grassland and light scrub of East Africa, with museum records from Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi and Sudan. Adult females reach about 13 cm and males about 10 cm, and the colors run from red and white to blue, purple and black. It hunts flying insects such as flies and moths, and keepers feed it flies rather than crickets. Each egg case produces roughly 10 to 50 nymphs.

It is a specialist animal. Keepers report heavy losses at molts, so it needs mesh or rough surfaces to hang from, very warm conditions and strong airflow, and a female may eat a careless male at mating. Before you search for one for sale, check the rules. USDA asks US buyers to contact its plant protection office before buying any land-dwelling invertebrate, because importing one or moving it between states can require a PPQ 526 permit, and the receiver applies for it. States add their own limits: Florida admits non-native mantids only as adult males unless they go to an institution, and Utah requires an exotic animal permit to own one.